Richard McIver: He loved being politically incorrect

Ex-Seattle City Councilman Richard McIver, who died at 71 on Saturday night, was the last politician at City Hall who took deep pleasure in being politically incorrect.

He was the only Council member ever to become a movie character played by Cedric the Entertainer.

McIver was for years a heavy smoker, joked that the bar at the Four Seas in the International District was his second office and did not relinquish his laid-back style even when putting then-King County Councilman Dwight Pelz on the canvas in his last successful reelection race.

“When legislation outlawed smoking in bars, he joked that the only legal place to smoke would be standing in the middle of the street on the yellow line: Amazingly, though he did eventually quit smoking and never told the staff,” said Paul Elliott, who worked 8 1/2 years as McIver’s chief of staff.

McIver was remembered Monday as a character and a contributor. “Richard was warm, funny, well-loved and dedicated to his city,” said Mayor Mike McGinn, who will never claim the mantle of political incorrectness.

City Council colleague Jean Godden, described McIver as a “mentor” who often stopped by her office, a task made more difficult by the configuration of Seattle’s arid new City Hall. Segregated space replaced the shared space (conducive to news leaking) of the old city hall.

“Richard never forgot the mistreatment he experienced during the World Trade Organization demonstrations,” Godden related. “En route to an official dinner, he was stopped by a Seattle policeman who did not recognize him as a council member, refused to believe he was a public official, and insisted on making him stand spreadeagled up against his car.”

McIver is remembered for one central achievement, creation of the $50 million Rainier Valley Community Development Fund, which has loaned more than $10 million to local businesses. He was deeply worried about light rail’s impact on immigrant- and minority-owned businesses along Rainier Avenue.

McIver was known for his last two successful campaigns. He was opposed in 2001 by music critic-turned-monorail booster Grant Cogswell. McIver was reelected, but Cogswell campaign manager Phil Campbell immortalized the insurgency with his book “Zioncheck for Mayor.’ It was later made into the movie “Grassroots.”

Cedric the Entertainer, playing McIver, reenacted a famous — and true — coming together story. Richard McIver gave the carless Grant Cogswell a ride to the polls — we had polls then — on Election Day, and waited while Cogswell voted for Cogswell.

“He was an unbelievably easy boss to work for,” Elliott recalled. “He was a go-with-the-flow guy who almost never raised his voice. I think, in more than eight years, there was not one occasion in which we ever yelled at each other.”

McIver DID raise his voice just a bit when Pelz came after him in 2005. The challenger did not sugar coat his message: McIver was over the hill. In response, McIver told debate audiences: “Don’t mistake cool for fool.” He related with pride a lifetime of community-development work and his pride at being a fifth generation Seattlite. (The vanquished Pelz went on to become Democratic State Chairman.

McIver had a difficult last term. He underwent colon surgery. Seattle police were called to the McIver home on a domestic-violence call that was later dropped. He was fined $1,000 by the Seattle Elections Commission, a cobra-like entity that will strike at anything.

He had a history of health problems, in recent months suffering from swollen ankles, low blood pressure and kidney ailments. In earlier times, McIver was known for suggesting to aides that they go eat at McDonald’s or KFC. After his first heart attack, McIver found himself being lectured on healthy foods by a nutritionist, and told her: “No self-respecting black man would ever eat a diet like this.”

He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Marlaina, and a child by a previous marriage and grandchild, who live in Texas.